TJ Schiller at Freshtival 04

Fresh Movies, Fresh Skiing

Tanner Hall and TJ Schiller take a break.

Soul Purpose, Yearbook, Ten, WSKI ("Dubski") 106.

These are the titles of several movies which were premiered at Solomon's "Freshtival" this weekend (October 14th-16th) in Calgary. The three-day event also also featured a live ski comp dubbed the Oakley Rail Session, located on a hill at SAIT just off of 16th Avenue.

Since it was a local event in addition to my brother being in it all, I was around for the festivities. Here are some Freshtival photos; pardon the obvious inherent bias in photo subjects.

Impressive Productions

TJ had introduced me to some of the film producers, and I'm no movie mogul by any means but was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the production work. These guys obviously took their time in making the shots and music all work together. In all I saw four out out of the six movies shown, all of which were excellently presented.

Not only the production is noteworthy; the skiers themselves are pulling some amazing stunts - whether it's jumping off a man-made lifter in Whistler, or flying off a ledge on the four-Kilometer-high Eiger in Switzerland (with a parachute, I might add.) In The North Face and Teton Gravity Research's "Soul Purpose", there is a lot of airtime shown as skiers carve a line after dropping off a ledge - causing the occasional avalanche.

TJ reaches Age Of Majority*

I'm so stoked to use my [expletive] ID!

My brother also coincidentally (and conveniently) turned 18 this weekend, which meant he was legally allowed to buy alcohol, vote and be a patron of the fine pubs and bars in Calgary. Combined with the Freshtival festivities and resulting parties thereafter, this event was just more fuel for the fire!

Two bars and many drinks later, the whole group of us (skiers, video producers and friends) were intoxicated to varying degrees and spread out all over the place.

What is it with those Skiers?

There must be something in the culture of freestyle skiing (and skiing in general) that draws these thrill-seeking "live on the edge" types of people; I talked with Sarah Burke, met Mike Douglas, walked around with Tanner Hall and had fun hanging out with my brother and his many other friends. It was awesome. I met a lot of great people, and in 72 hours learned more about the new-school ski industry and culture than any video could have shown - by interacting with the very people that make the industry what it is.

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